Citation
Hummer, Robert A.; Benjamins, Maureen Reindl; & Rogers, Richard G. (2004). Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and Mortality among the U.S. Elderly Population.. Anderson, Norman B.; Bulatao, Rodolfo A.; & Cohen, Barney (Eds.) (pp. 53-94). Washington: National Academies Press.Abstract
Racial/ethnic differences in health and mortality stand at the heart of the public health agenda of the United States (Kington and Nickens, 2001; Martin and Soldo, 1997; Williams, 2001; Williams and Collins, 1995). One of the three main goals of the Healthy People 2000 initiative was to reduce health disparities among Americans (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 1991). Now, one of the two primary goals of Healthy People 2010 is to eliminate health disparities (DHHS, 2000). Although racial/ethnic health disparities have been the focus of much previous research, the rapidly changing age, racial/ethnic, and health landscape of the country makes it critical to continually update and assess such disparities. The goals of this chapter are to document racial/ethnic health and mortality disparities among the elderly population of the United States and to examine some simple models of health and mortality that take into account basic demographic and socioeconomic factors. We focus on the five major racial/ethnic subpopulations in the United States: non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic whites, the Hispanic origin population, Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs), and Native Americans. In several portions of the chapter, the health and mortality patterns of Mexican Americans, the nation's largest Hispanic subpopulation, are discussed. We recognize there is substantial ethnic, cultural, geographic, and socioeconomic heterogeneity within the five main racial/ethnic categories here. Nevertheless, key limitations with population-based data sets, particularly for the elderly, limit the comparative analyses that are possible even across these five broad groups. The chapter is organized into six sections. First, we outline overall mortality and cause-specific mortality disparities by race/ethnicity among the elderly population (ages 65+) in the United States. Second, we describe racial/ethnic disparities across general indicators of health for the U.S. elderly population. Third, we briefly compare current racial/ethnic health and mortality disparities among the elderly with those observed for younger age groups. Fourth, we examine whether health and mortality disparities among the elderly correspond with racial/ethnic differences in some key sociodemographic characteristics. Fifth, we present some simple models of health and mortality disparities among the elderly to assess the impact of those sociodemographic factors on the observed differentials. Our concluding section summarizes the findings from the chapter, notes some important data limitations in understanding the national picture of racial/ethnic health disparities among the elderly, and briefly notes future research needs.URL
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK25528/Reference Type
Book SectionYear Published
2004Author(s)
Hummer, Robert A.Benjamins, Maureen Reindl
Rogers, Richard G.